Feature presentations such as sporting events, live concerts, and broadcast premieres etc., are among the most highly valued assets of television program content providers. Their exclusive control of the availability of this material significantly increases its value. Consequently, program content providers are able to charge a premium for access to such programs. The unauthorized copying of these programs diminishes their value.
Currently, content providers are limited in their capacity to prevent unauthorized copying of program content. One measure employed by content providers is watermarking. Watermarking entails placing a logo on the displayed video image. In many cases the logo is placed in the corner of the displayed video image. However, this measure has proven to be practically useless as a meaningful deterrent to unauthorized copying of the program.
Another technique that has been employed is the use of copy control information (CCI). A feature of this scheme is the transfer of data from transmitter to receiver where the transmitter side system determines the copy restriction level of the content that is being transmitted. In addition, the qualifications of the receiver side system to receive the content can be verified. If complete authentication is established between the receiver-side system and the transmitter-side system, the content is encrypted and transmitted from transmitter to receiver. Once the content has been received, the CCI information may be modified to indicate that copying is prohibited so that unauthorized copying may be prevented.
A drawback of the use of CCI information is its reliance on the receiver side system to perform operations that prevent receiver-side devices from making unauthorized copies of the transmitted content. For example, upon receiving the transmitted content, the receiver side system may be employed to rewrite the CCI information to include data that either facilitates: (1) free copying, (2) the permission of one time copying, or (3) the prohibition of copying altogether. However, because of the relative ease with which the data that facilitates the free copying of the transmitted content may be manipulated, through such manipulation, unauthorized copying may be facilitated.
Other measures employed include the inclusion of stern warnings that outline the legal penalties that may be incurred for making copies of video content or re-broadcasting it without permission. However, such measures do not eliminate the users capacity to make perfectly clean copies of transmitted video content using VCR or DVD recorders. Consequently this system, along with the other systems currently available, do not prevent the unauthorized copying of transmitted video content, that is currently widespread, from continuing unabated.